The verdict: A gluten-free brew even non-celiacs would be pleased with.

Pity the celiac beer lover.

People suffering from the most severe kind of gluten intolerance are usually unable to drink beer, thanks to the use of barley or wheat. People with celiac disease (1 out of 133 people in the Canadian population, according to the Canadian Celiac Association), suffer intestinal damage when they consume gluten, a sticky, gummy substance found in many grains including barley or wheat.

While there’s also a growing number of beers on the market that use gluten-free grains, most of them are either bland or, to be blunt, taste terrible.

The terrible tasting ones are usually that way because the substitute grains don’t really taste all that much like barley malt. The bland ones are tasteless because the brewers who make them figure it’s a relatively niche market anyway and it’s not worth shrinking it even further by offering something with a pronounced flavour. In other words, they’re just attempting to recreate a mass market lager.

Fortunately for Ontario celiacs, there’s now another, much more palatable option available on the shelves at the LCBO. St. Peter’s G-Free, which hails from the English county of Suffolk, is brewed with sorghum, a grain often used in Africa and Latin America. (The brewery’s flagship Organic English Ale — which does contain gluten — is also at the LCBO).

Unlike most of the lackluster gluten-free brews you can get your hands on, this one’s pretty tasty. For one thing, you can actually taste — and smell — the hops. The brewery uses plenty of Amarillo, an American hop variety which lends the brew a citrusy aroma and flavour (think tangerine, rather than the grapefruit character added by other notable American hop varieties such as Cascade). There’s also a pleasantly bitter finish.

The only real down note is there’s more than a hint of buttery aroma from the yeast used by St. Peter’s for the special brew, but it’s not overwhelming. It’s the kind of beer you can imagine sipping a pint or two of in a pub even if, perish the thought, you didn’t have celiac disease.

That was just what St. Peter’s was going for when they created G-Free, which first hit the English market in 2007.

“We wanted celiacs to be able to enjoy a gluten free beer as tasty as a ‘normal’ beer,” said Colin Cordy, the brewery’s managing director.

And so far, says Cordy, celiacs have responded gratefully.

“One of the great pleasures of having G-Free in our portfolio is the number of ‘fan mail’ emails and letters we receive from consumers all over the world,” said Cordy, adding that the brewery now ships the beer to 13 countries.